Have any of you ever seen a F4/EF4 or an F5/EF5 tornado?

ChicagoBlue2

ChicagoBlue2

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I don't mean on TV; I mean in real life and real time.

I saw an F4 tornado on June 2, 1990, and again in 1995 and both were MONSTERS. Thankfully they didn't hit anything, or I wouldn't be here.

If you've seen one of these, was it terrifying? If you saw it far enough away to not be in danger, what was your thoughts?
 
Never! Few times, I had close call, damn I missed opportunity just matter of minutes or hour!

This includes earthquake, I missed by just mere minutes. I got off and into air right before the quake strike! Unreal!
 
I never seen one but I did see the damage it can cause when I was in Oklahoma visiting some friends . Cars where twisted up like and tossed around like they where tin cans. We had hurricanes when I was child but I have no idea how powerful they where. I saw a water spout when I was at boardwalk with my daughter dog and another kid . The water spout was heading straight at us and we run like hell back the car. I had no idea if was going to dies out if it hit land.
 
Waterspouts aren't as dangerous as a tornado, because the winds are less violent, but they WILL damage boats, or even sink them. Now a tornado will do a LOT more damage, and back on April 15, 1998, my former hometown was struck by a series of tornadoes, one of which destroyed an entire side of a neighborhood, and derailed a freight train.
 
What I thought of when I saw the thread title:
F-4G-1.jpg


dsc_00505b15d.jpg
 
I saw one of those, too, with the bombs included. I freaked out, cause if one of those accidentally got discharged, bye-bye hometown. Thankfully, nothing happened.
 
I've never seen a tornado in person. I've seen waterspouts, and experienced earthquakes and hurricanes but no tornadoes even though we've had warnings for them in my area.
 
I've seen at least 4 in my life. Two were monsters, and two were weak ones. As for earthquakes, my state has had them before, the last one being a few years back, and registered a 5.2 or a 5.3, I believe, with the exception being a very recent one in McCook, IL, which wasn't strong enough to be felt everywhere, as it was a 3.7, and not strong enough.
 
markengland29 said:
Waterspouts aren't as dangerous as a tornado, because the winds are less violent, but they WILL damage boats, or even sink them. Now a tornado will do a LOT more damage, and back on April 15, 1998, my former hometown was struck by a series of tornadoes, one of which destroyed an entire side of a neighborhood, and derailed a freight train.
Click to expand...

What is a waterspout?


If a waterspout come on land it can hurt people. I was not going to hang around when I had my daughter and someone else kid and my dog.
 
True to that. They can reach land and do damage, but it rarely happens, though, cause they mainly stay over the water.
 
Reba said:
I've never seen a tornado in person. I've seen waterspouts, and experienced earthquakes and hurricanes but no tornadoes even though we've had warnings for them in my area.
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When I was living in Berkeley , Calf. we had an earthquake and my wooden floor started to roll and a small table was moving and a wall started to crack . My daughter was at school and that was the worst feeling not being with my child . My house was a 100 yo and it been through a lot earthquakes so I guess it was build good.
 
I know how you feel-- I live in Chicago, and my parents live right in the middle of Tornado Alley in Southern IL, and very recently, we had a bunch of tornadoes hit here, and I was helpless, and not knowing if they were alive or not, but when I heard from them, I was very much relieved.
 
Never personally seen a Tornado, just the devastation it left behind...Reminds me of the movie Tornado Chasers....I've been thru Hurricanes, and will choose them over a Tornado or Earthquake anyday!...And those awful Mudslides!.....
 
It's true--- hurricanes aren't nearly as powerful as one of these monster tornadoes are, and their strength doesn't even come close to matching an EF4/EF5 tornado.
 
The worst tornado I missed was Fort Worth, Texas in spring time of 2001 I think, and I left that city an hour after tornado ripped though.
 
Wasn't that an F4? No one ever wants to see a monster tornado, or any tornado, for that matter. I'd rather see sunny skies than a tornado.
 
I remember vaguely when I was 10 in May years back. Visiting a family friend near Georgetown TX I believe it was. We were driving around somewhere ( again vaguely ) and saw this GIANT tornado in the distance. Luckily we were pretty far away. It had not hit where we were and was going the opposite direction. While the visit and things may not be as clear as yesterday, that giant black tornado is. I will never forget that thing. To this day I find them incredibly fascinating, interesting and beautiful even ( As long as they're in a field not hurting anyone of course :( ) I don't remember being scared seeing it... However, I remember my parents making me bow in prayer to pray for anyone that it hit. :( I've seen quite a few waterspouts here in Florida, and I even saw a little tornado earlier this year here. It was a baby one, but Florida doesn't really see F4 or F5's for the most part.
 
Florida rarely gets these kinds of tornadoes. I agree-- the best kind are those that are just sitting in a field doing nothing-- they're the best kind to view, as long you stay far enough away from it. As for F4/EF4 and F5/EF5 tornadoes, you can go almost anywhere in the Midwest and find a history of those. Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska all had EF5's in recent years, but the last couple years, my home state has gotten slammed by three EF4's-- one in Feb. 2012, and two just a couple of weeks ago. The last F5 tornado to hit IL was back in 1990-- the same year I saw that F4 tornado.
 
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